KOCHI: If you want a good cook, go to a prison in Kerala. Yes, jails are sprouting culinary talent, and tasty, healthy and affordable food prepared by the inmates has become a big hit.

People are gobbling up chapatis, curries, idlis, banana chips, laddus and cakes made by convicts at half the market price; and next month its popularity will acquire divine proportions as devotees at the Sabarimala temple will also get the option of cheap vegetarian food made by prisoners.

It's a win-win situation. For the government, it is a cash-generating recipe, contributing as much as Rs 14 crore to the state kitty last year. For convicts, it generates job offers from restaurant owners. This dissuades them from returning to crime after being released while the money sent home from prison makes sure their families don't do anything illegal to survive.

The idea of selling cooked food from prisons evolved one-and-a-half years ago at the central jail in Thiruvananthapuram. The state prison department was literally taken by surprise by the response, which encouraged it to spread the programme to several other jails.

Today, eight, including three central prisons in Kerala, are carrying on operation food with much success.

"We started it to teach prisoners some useful skills along with carpentry, masonry etc as they usually idle away the time playing cards or plotting to escape," says Alexander Jacob, DGP, prisons.

"Now the programme has become a good source of income for the government and is helping in the rehabilitation of the prisoners as well," he says. This year, the prison department is expecting an income of Rs 22 crore, though he maintains that profit is not the prime motive.

According to Jacob, several restaurant owners book the prisoners as cooks before they are released. "Cooks are in short supply and a good one can even get paid Rs 1,000 a day, may be earning as much as a jail superintendent. They can also double up as security," he points out.

A set of five chapatis and a vegetable curry is sold for Rs 25 with each chapati priced at Rs 2 compared with Rs 6 prevalent in local restaurants. The chicken curry comes at Rs 25 and a chicken biryani at half the going rate at Rs 60.

While these are stock items, jails also make idlis, banana chips, laddus and cakes. And starting next month, Sabarimala temple pilgrims will enjoy the benefit of simple and cheap vegetarian food from Pathanamthitta district jail.

"We start supply from 7 am and sell over 40,000 chapatis and 500-600 curries a day. The chicken biryani gets ready by afternoon and we find takers for at least 400," says jailor Baburajan of Viyyur central prison in Thrissur. The vegetables used are organic, usually grown inside the jail complex using bio-fertilisers. In Kannur central prison, you have paddy and flower farming. Chicken is also reared in jail compounds. Next in the agenda are goat and pig farms. Ashokan Aripra, senior jailor of Kannur central prison, says the prison sells 50 kg of laddus and 200 kg of banana chips a day. "On special occasions like Onam festival, the sales go up," he adds.

The care taken to grow vegetables and to cook them in hygienic conditions has led to increased public acceptance. "I find the curries less spicy and tasty. Maybe they have done away with the spices in order to cook the curries economically. But in the process they are making healthy food and giving it to us at a lower price," says Ravishanker, who is a regular customer of chapatis and vegetable curries.

The cooks among the prisoners get Rs 117 daily for their work. At the end of the month, Rs 3,500 is sent to the family. "Often when the male member of a family is imprisoned, the woman and son too end up in jail as they engage in illegal activities for survival. But such incidences have come down as the family is getting money every month," Jacob says.